Exhibited at the International Contemporary Furniture Fair 2012 in New York City in the Wilsonart Contract Booth.

Exhibited at NeoCon 2012 at the Merchandise Mart in Chicago.

Seven Stumps is a reconfigurable group seating and display system. Like the way trees grow naturally in groves, adapting to surrounding growth, the varying proportions of each stool break the geometric regularity of most modular systems. The simple form of each unit becomes more dynamic when amassed with others; likewise, the system encourages social interactions in otherwise anti-social settings.

This project was sponsored with Wilsonart, a manufacturer of plastic laminate. Wilsonart asked each student to design a chair featuring their woodgrain plastic laminate material, and provided extensive training, guidance, and support, allowing us to focus on new applications of their material.

This version of the Seven Stumps are laminated on all exposed surfaces with Wilsonart laminate and edge banding. The laminate material creates a durable finish (ideal for high traffic areas like lobbies or retail spaces), and also allows for endless color and pattern customization.

Construct-a-Cup is an experiment in mass-customization on a micro-scale.

One of my favorite things about design is the way it opens up possibilities for positive changes in our everyday lives - possibilities that are much broader than what is readily available for purchase and consumption. I feel that if more people were exposed to way things are designed (and ultimately made), they might see the world as less pre-determined and more open to invention and customization.

Although I was keen on each user constructing their own cup, it was fascinating to observe the discomfort some customers felt about assembling the parts, or even choosing their preferred composition of components. At the same time, it was fun to see people inadvertently construct cups that matched their clothing and accessories.

For me, the design process was very focused on defining the palette of choices for the user: not to eliminate chances of failure, but to be able to track specific decisions. More experiments - new variables, new materials - to come.

Playpods - the brand - was designed collaboratively between Rosalie Wild, Ji Hyun Hwang, and Janet Lee. Each member designed one of the products in the collection - my product was the Wobblepod.

The concept arose out of research about physical activity in the context of school. Through speaking with teachers we realized that there was an opportunity gap between physical education - which builds specific physical skills in a well-rounded but super-structured way - and recess, which is allows for super-dynamic imaginative fun but misses the well-rounded education.

We set out to create fun tools for kids that were playable:
-Indoors or outdoors
-alone or in groups
-without rules or instruction

The idea for the 1-2 Chair began with a doodle of a classic folding chair with a coat hanger attached to the back; the idea that people who live in small spaces could use additional seating that easily stowed away in existing storage areas like clothes closets.

The result is a novel folding structure that allows for super-flat storage (and shipping), but using soft materials that suit a living room context. Unlike other collapsible furniture, the 1-2 Chair becomes structural with only two intuitive steps - no hardware, no instructions, no mystery.

Prototyping - with a variety of materials and at a variety of scales - was the key part of the process. I alternated between structural tests and color/material experiments, ultimately working toward removing as much material as possible and simplifying the manufacturing (and assembly) process.

Oax-i-fornia is a workshop program in Oaxaca, Mexico that pairs art and design students with traditional craft artisans in order to experiment with new applications of their unique skills and special traditions.

Sita Bhaumik and I were paired with Esperanza Martinez, a woman who made jewelry from silk cocoons and scrap silk thread - both leftover materials from her family's production of traditional silk 'rebozos' (shawls).

After staying with Esperanza's family and learning about their artisanal process firsthand, we experimented with her materials, coming up with new ways of attaching the thumbnail sized cocoons together to make larger objects.

Esperanza showed us how many of her own jewelry designs had been knocked off by other local artisans - many of whom could sell them for less money since they weren't producing their own silk cocoons and thread. So we explored other objects - such as lighting - that were more involved to produce, as well as jewelry that capitalized on her amazing visual sensibility, unique crochet skills, and access to weaving and dyeing processes. Lastly, we experimented with the short scraps of thread that are cut off her families' backstrap looms: sandwiching them between sheer mesh to create a contemporary-looking textile with a no-waste story.

Esperanza has since received many more commissions for her work, and was even asked make a dramatic red necklace (a design that emerged during our workshop) for every governor's wife in Mexico.

Sita and I have stayed in touch with Esperanza, and have worked with her on designing a set of rubber stamps that allow her to create her own business cards, tags, and packaging.

It is exciting to see how traditional crafts can be reinvigorated through cross-cultural exchange, and inspiring to see how the design process can create actual positive change for individual makers.

This project was a collaboration between Saracina Vineyards in Hopland, CA and the Glass and Industrial Design departments at California College of the Arts. Saracina Vineyards, grows grapes and makes wine on a small scale, allowing them to experiment with biodynamic growing practices and innovative winemaking techniques.

John Fetzer and Patty Rock, the owners of Saracina, asked us to design a decanter for their tasting room - to create a signature experience at their vineyard.

I was particularly inspired by their experiments with aging wine in ceramic barrels - an unusual practice today but actually a method used by ancient Chinese winemakers. My decanter design referenced their striped ceramic barrels as a testament to their commitment to both tradition and innovation.

After creating lightweight foam models and a plaster mold, I worked with a gaffer from the Glass department (Colin O'Reilly) to create a prototype in glass. We had many wonderful "failures" and unpredictably great results, and the final prototype (complete with sandblasted details and branding) was well-received by the Saracina staff.

Ceramics and wheel throwing are recent but extreme fascinations!
I could have spent four years just studying glazes, clay bodies, and the history of formal archetypes…
Alas, I am thrilled to be able to explore form and decoration in a really direct and fulfilling way, but through my relation to the making of the objects but also through their lives with other users.

Assisting in Carol Koffel's ceramic studio., I have been making some basic plaster mold for slip casting. My original goal to re-create some of my favorite cups I have thrown has revealed to me the many ways in which casting and throwing are not the same!

Stay tuned for results of lots of glaze tests… and more wheelthrowing.-

Ceramics and wheel throwing are recent but extreme fascinations!
I could have spent four years just studying glazes, clay bodies, and the history of formal archetypes…
Alas, I am thrilled to be able to explore form and decoration in a really direct and fulfilling way, but through my relation to the making of the objects but also through their lives with other users.

This collection of teacups and bud vases play with the delicate handmade quality of porcelain and the industrial, repeating pattern of polka dot decals. I made the decals using a silkscreen process. Exhausting the possibilities of these three simple patterns is an ongoing project.

Ceramics and wheel throwing are recent but extreme fascinations!
I could have spent four years just studying glazes, clay bodies, and the history of formal archetypes…
Alas, I am thrilled to be able to explore form and decoration in a really direct and fulfilling way, but through my relation to the making of the objects but also through their lives with other users.

During this time I was an intern at the UC Berkeley Art Studio. I took a course in Image Transfer, using slip to transfer images from paper to clay. I also enjoyed using their recycled glaze - it is made from all of the glaze materials that is filtered out of the water that goes down the drain. The glaze is a pretty and dark bottle green.

Ceramics and wheel throwing are recent but extreme fascinations!
I could have spent four years just studying glazes, clay bodies, and the history of formal archetypes…
Alas, I am thrilled to be able to explore form and decoration in a really direct and fulfilling way, but through my relation to the making of the objects but also through their lives with other users.

It all began in a Wheelthrowing class at CCA in my last semester. Many thanks to this wonderful and challenging teacher.

This project was designed, built, and tested in a two-week time period. The challenge was to make a shelter for one person for one night. Besides keeping the rain and cold out, I wanted to create a space that focused the inhabitant on the observation of nature: not only the broad scenic landscape, but the finer details above and below our typical gaze. The windows - large and small, lower and higher - frame the surroundings in interesting and unexpected ways. The bright, natural surface of the canvas offers a glowing emptiness for the inhabitant. The structure of the tent was based on the simplest and strongest of structures, the tetrahedron, and was created with electrical conduit with flattened ends that bolted together.

The Sensory Shelter, along with other shelters from the Minimal Habitation course, were tested overnight at Kirby Cove in Marin, California.

Right Chairtag:www.rosaliewild.com,2013:/?/more/stickchair/2013-01-25T19:01:26+11:00@page_description

What can you make with six 60" long sticks of poplar?
Can you make a chair that is not only strong, but comfortable and appealing?
Yes! This project was an exploration of design within constraints, as well as a great introduction to cutting wood joints by hand.

As an exercise in communicating design concepts to others (particularly fabricators), the Glass Product Design course at CCA held a contest each week to design a cup around a particular theme. After presenting our drawings, the gaffer (Colin O'Reilly, a glass student) chose a cup for immediate prototyping. What a first seemed like a clear direction would begin to transform: either due the properties of the material, or the aesthetic preference of the gaffer, the characteristics of a certain tool, or a happy accident. I found myself decoding Colin's style and designing things I knew he would be good at making, or at least willing to test out. In this way I got several opportunities to prototype my cup designs. I think the maker's sensibility is just as important as the technical properties of the material being used.

The challenge was to make an updated replica of an ancient cobalt-decorated vessel. I chose this one from the Victoria and Albert Museum, drawn to the geometric frames and the clever decoration spelling out "Fu" and Shou" and "Lu" (Fortune, Prosperity, and Longevity) in the branches of the shrubs. The rest of the frames were filled with bounties of food.

I chose to represent over-abundance on my updated version - illustrating consumer objects in quantity and in disarray. The words "plenty" and "enough" are a reminder to appreciate the fine line between comfort and waste.

This project was a collaboration with Peter Strzebniok and Nottoscale, designers of a modern and modular chicken coop. I was asked to prototype a ceramic chicken feeder and waterer that would compliment the design of the coop. Working with Carol Koffel at New Lief Design Center, we developed a plaster mold for slipcasting the waterers. The biggest challenge was to create dimensionally accurate pieces to work with the external hardware and cork.

Rosalie Wild is forever learning about our world through the lens of objects.

Rosalie Wild grew up outside of Philadelphia, making things with her hands from an early age. Her interest in design was sparked during many summers spent in Los Angeles with family who work in the fields of graphic design and architecture, and who let her tag along to the International Design Conference in Aspen at the tender age of 14.

Trained in Industrial Design and Visual Studies at California College of the Arts, her love of craft and interest in material properties and manufacturing processes have led her to enjoy collaborative, hands-on projects in a wide range of contexts. As a writer, she reflects on the ongoing dialogue between objects and culture.